We're All Alone
by Lady-Dulcinea
Summary: Rumbelle. Both Belle and Gold help each other through issues brought on by the world outside their door.
1. Author's Note

**A/N: **This story isn't exactly AU for Season 2, yet, but probably will be soon. This takes place in my "Partners in Crime" 'verse. You don't need to read that story to understand this one, but it would help you to understand some of the character relationships. Belle is getting acclimated to Storybrooke and is the town librarian. She is slowly and tentatively making friends (despite being with Gold). Magic IS back, but is unpredictable, so those who wield it are not doing so openly (yet). Regina is MIA at the moment, so life for the most part goes on as normal as people are waiting for someone to make the next move. Also, names are interesting and tricky things now that two worlds have become one and I have used some names from Fairy Tale Land and I imagine some have kept their names from Storybrooke.

This is a "loose" song fic, meaning I was inspired by a song to write it, but probably won't reference the lyrics in the story (unless used as dialogue). The song is "We're All Alone" but Boz Scaggs, but I was inspired by the Linda Eder cover of the song on her album (appropriately named) "Gold". I imagine this will only be 2 chapters.

**We're All Alone**

_Outside the rain begins_

_And it may never end_

_So cry no more on the shore_

_A dream will take us out to sea_

_Forevermore, forevermore_

_Close your eyes, Amie_

_And you can be with me_

'_Neath the waves, through the caves of ours_

_Long forgotten now_

_We're all alone, we're all alone_

_Close the window, calm the light_

_And it will be alright_

_No need to bother now_

_Let it out, let it all begin_

_Learn how to pretend_

_Once a story's told_

_It can't help but grow old_

_Roses do, lovers too_

_So cast your seasons to the wind_

_And hold me dear, oh hold me dear_

_Close the window, calm the light_

_And it will be alright_

_No need to bother now_

_Let it out, let it all begin_

_Throw it to the wind, my love_

_Hold me dear_

_All's forgotten now, my love_

_We're all alone_


	2. 1: Close Your Eyes and Dream

**Chapter 1: Close Your Eyes and Dream**

Rumpelstiltskin raised his head from his desk in the study when he heard a thump come from the front porch. At first he thought it was the wind. It had been gaining force in the last few hours ahead of an impending storm. Listening intently, however he realized that he could now make out definite sobbing. Grabbing his cane quickly, Rumpelstiltskin made his way to the front door and yanked it open, causing the glass to shake and rattle with the force. Looking around wildly, he finally found Belle, slumped on the porch against the wall next to the door, gasping for air between distressed sobs.

"What happened?" He breathed; already plotting the deaths of those Belle had left with earlier. Kneeling awkwardly beside his dear girl, she didn't have time to answer before Snow White and Ruby Lucas were running toward them, their heels _click-clicking_ on the concrete of the front walk.

"She just bolted!" Snow told him breathlessly as she came to rest on the top step of the front porch. Ruby nodded in acknowledgement. "We were outside talking and she started shaking, she just _ran…_"

By this time, Belle was composing herself and wiping her tears with the back of her hand, sniffling and smearing eye makeup in the process. She breathed out quickly a few times to calm herself, before using Rumpelstiltskin's outstretched hand to help her to her feet. "I'm so sorry," she told the two women now staring at her with concern. "I'm sorry. I thought I saw _her_. I—I felt someone watching me and saw movement. I'm so sorry," She repeated the last with genuine apology as if she had ruined the night. No one needed to ask who "her" was.

"No need to apologize," Snow interjected smoothly. "We've all been through a lot the last few months."

"Yeah," Ruby added. "We were just afraid you might get lost and then it would start raining." The last syllable of _raining_ was drowned out by a large gust of wind. "We do need to get back to our cars, though…before the storm starts."

Rumpelstiltskin offered to drive the two ladies back to _The Rabbit Hole_ from where Belle had made her abrupt departure, but they declined. Promising to call and check on their friend tomorrow, Snow and Ruby made their way down the sidewalk toward the center of town and the bar. They could beat the rain if they hurried.

Ushering his still shaking love inside, Rumpelstiltskin closed the door gently. His beautiful girl headed toward the living room and pushed off her high heels, bringing her feet under her as she curled into a corner of the sofa. Belle rested her chin on her hands on the arm of the sofa and let out a shaky sigh. "I can't keep doing this Rum," She admitted as her lover sat gingerly next to her.

"Doing what, sweetheart?" Rumpelstiltskin asked innocently, though he knew her anxieties were the elephant in the room and had been getting worse for some time.

"I'm so afraid of being taken again," She admitted unhappily. "I see her everywhere, in everything! Even when I know it cannot possibly be her, it's driving me insane. What if it gets so bad I cannot function? What if I get put in the asylum for real this time? What if-"

"Belle," Rumpelstiltskin interrupted before she could go any further. "I would never let anyone, Regina or otherwise, touch a hair on your head. We will work through this together. I don't think anyone can blame you for what you are going through. This world has medicines to help with the anxiety. Tomorrow we'll talk to-"

"No!" Belle cried, sitting up from the arm of the sofa as if scalded. "Please don't make me take more medications, Rum!" She begged as the tears began welling in her eyes again. "I can't think properly with them."

Rumpelstiltskin panicked slightly at her agitation. He was a man who enjoyed having everything well in hand. Belle was one area where he often found himself unsure what to do. He had to bite back the urge to remind the brunette that he was expressly forbidden to kill Regina, which would have helped the current situation a great deal. Instead, he pulled her into his arms and leaned back on the couch cradling her to his chest. "Of course I won't make you do anything you don't feel comfortable with, dearest. I only thought it might help. We'll figure something else out," He promised.

Another gust of wind, tinged with damp caused his lover to shiver in his arms. Pulled from his thoughts, Rumpelstiltskin kissed Belle's chestnut head before rising to close the window that had been opened earlier in the day. Turning down the lamp on the end table next to the couch, the spinner pulled Belle back into his embrace and outstretched his bad leg resting it on the coffee table. The autumn leaves began to scrape against the porch under the window and sent Belle shuddering again, burying her face further into him.

Rumpelstiltskin smoothed her curls back from her face, still streaked with mascara, and leaned down slightly to make eye-contact. "Belle, put the outside world from your mind, sweetheart. Right here and now, it is just us. No one else can intrude on us here. Just like at home." He surprised himself by using the word _home_ for the Dark Castle, and realized he had always thought of those few idyllic months with her in the Old World as close to a home as he had ever had since before he lost Bae.

"Home," she agreed sadly. "I wish we were there now…"

Smiling slightly, he squeezed her fondly and remembered a game he used to play with Bae when fears became too much for the little boy. Hell, it was something he did himself often whilst spinning at the wheel. Forgetting. Pretending to be somewhere else.

"And if we were," Rumpelstiltskin posed the question, "what would we be doing?"

Belle smiled to herself slightly and he thought she was changing the subject when she asked, "Do you remember the lake? Below the cliffs?"

"The one I made clear you were never to set even a toe in?" He asked baiting her, waiting to see where this was heading.

She only laughed lightly, "Yes. Well, the lake led into a cave in the side of the cliff, flanked by cherry trees-"

Rumpelstiltskin grunted his agreement with a soft, "mmmhmm" and she continued.

"I didn't disobey or anything, but when the weather was warm and you were locked away in your tower, I would sit on the edge and imagine floating into that cave in a boat. I imagined the wind blowing softly enough to rattle those trees and to rain the blossoms on us."

"Us?" Her lover asked surprised, tilting his head down again to look at her.

Belle laughed again, a beautiful sound to his ears, and sat up to see him. "Yes, _us._ What good is a romantic cave without romance?"

Rumpelstiltskin ran the back of his hand down her cheek. "No good at all," he agreed. "What would we discover in there?" He knew full well that whatever she said would not be what had really been housed in the cave or the lake, but better not to destroy her fantasy at this juncture.

"Emeralds, all encrusted in the walls. And the sunlight or moonlight from a tiny opening made them glitter, giving off a beautiful glow any time of the day or night, enough to read by even. And the water was always calm and peaceful. We would lay in each other's arms, swaying slightly in the green glittery glow, I reading and you…doing whatever it is you do," Belle gave him a mischievous smile at that.

"Then you must remember every detail, sweetheart." Rumpelstiltskin told her firmly. "If we were back home, it is the first thing we would do."

"Promise?" She asked settling back in his arms.

"Most definitely," He agreed. "And this is what you must think of any time you are worried about that hag Regina. Pretend to be in our cave of emeralds…" Rumpelstiltskin pressed a kiss to her head and sat with her that way for several long minutes before they retired to bed.

He made a mental note that he must remind Dove to be more careful while watching Belle when she was out. The man couldn't be scaring Rumpelstiltskin's dear girl to death when he was supposed to be protecting her.


	3. 2: Cast Your Seasons to the Wind

**Chapter 2: Cast Your Seasons to the Wind**

Belle caught a glimpse of Rumpelstiltskin walking toward the library doors from the pawn shop out of the windows across from the circulation desk. Something in his gait made her do a double take, he seemed to be limping more than usual. She smiled politely at Ava Zimmer as she handed the book the girl had just checked out back into the lithe blonde's hands.

Belle waited for Rumpelstiltskin to enter from the front doors as she bid Ava and her brother goodbye. "I'm sure you'll find some remedy to get the gum out of your hair in that book, Nicholas," Belle trilled cheerily, earning a small unconvinced smile from the boy.

"Thanks, Mrs. Gold," Ava returned as they hurried toward the exit and down the street in the direction of their father's garage. The door hadn't even closed completely before Rumpelstiltskin's hand caught the edge. He took only a few steps in and waited for Belle to finish closing up for the evening.

"I won't be a minute," She said over the chime of her computer shutting down, looking him over for the tell-tale sign that his leg was bothering him. Rumpelstiltskin raised his eyebrows at her observation, but Belle said nothing, only retreated back to her office to gather her coat and keys. "Would you like me to drive home?" She asked as she turned off the lights and headed out onto the sidewalk to lock the door.

Rumpelstiltskin chuckled at the question, though that hadn't been her intention. "The car is wedged between two other vehicles at the moment, dear, but if you feel you can manage it…"

"Ah, a challenge then," Belle raised her eyebrows as she headed down the sidewalk to the Cadillac parked halfway between the library and his shop on the next block. She watched his gait more closely now, definitely something wrong. The straightforward part of her wanted to have it out immediately, but Rumpelstiltskin's lover knew that this tactic would never work with him. She would have to work up to it.

After adjusting her seat and the mirrors, Belle slid her key into the ignition and listened closely to her lover's advice on how to best maneuver the vehicle out onto the street. Rumpelstiltskin had been infinitely patient with her in teaching her how to drive, never once making her feel inadequate. Although she had overheard him telling Ruby that his real fear was for anyone else that happened to get in Belle's way should something go wrong, as the Cadillac was tantamount to a tank and in any accident he and his dear girl would probably walk away unharmed.

Belle's few attempts to drag Rumpelstiltskin out of his reverie were met with non-committal grunts. His brow furrowed as he focused on what seemed like every tree they passed on the short ride home. She pulled up to the curb and winced slightly as the front tire bumped up on the grass beside the sidewalk.

"No matter, sweetheart," He assured her as he moved to unlock the door. "It won't hurt the shocks to be uneven for one night." Rumpelstiltskin waited for her to come around the car and held out his hand so they could walk together up to the door. Belle noted again that his walk was halted and slower, but she resolved that perhaps she could coax him out in a round-about way after supper instead of head on. He was more honest with her on his terms, she had discovered.

Dinner was as somber as the car ride home, but in the silence there was no tension or anger to get Rumpelstiltskin talking. Belle watched his reflection in the windows as she washed dishes and he was focused on fixing some trinket he had brought home from the shop. She couldn't help but notice that he stopped every so often to rub his knee.

Drying her hands, Belle went to the small downstairs bathroom to grab the bottle of ointment she had purchased from Lavella Odie, Storybrooke's homeopathic apothecary. Rumpelstiltskin blinked at her in confusion as she returned to kneel at his feet and began to roll up his pant leg. "Belle, what-?" He started, but was cut off by a motion of her hand.

"It is obvious your knee is bothering you, Rum," She said matter-of-factly, dipping her fingers in the fragrant ointment and starting to massage it into his joint. "I'm going to give you the help you won't ask for…and hope that you'll also tell me what's troubling you." Belle gave him a soft encouraging smile as she worked her thumbs in a circular motion around his knee spreading the salve and massaging as she went.

Rumpelstiltskin ran the back of his index finger down her cheek as Belle looked up at him imploringly. He gave her a small smile before saying simply, "I'm old…" His beauty opened her mouth to protest, as she had many times before, but Rumpelstiltskin cut her off. "Don't worry, dear. I'm not talking about our relationship. I saw young Henry this afternoon chasing after a ball down the sidewalk. Wrenched my knee when I kicked it back to him…"

"Oh, Rum."

"It was a silly thing to do, sweetheart, I know, but I'm so close to finding Bae and…and I'm not sure how time will factor in to all of this. Not for certain, anyway. Before, in our world I had all the time I needed, but now…here? What if I made a wrong calculation? What if I can't keep up with him? What if I find him only to lose him again? What if…" Rumpelstiltskin paused before voicing the next, "what if he's dead already?"

Belle put the salve container on the table and moved to kneel between her lover's knees, cupping his face in her hands. "Rum, it is perfectly normal for you to worry about these things. But, my love, what can we do about them now? Once this curse was put into place you became powerless to change the time and place of our arrival. Bae is here, and we'll find him. And we will love him…no matter WHAT we find." She pushed herself up higher on her knees and placed a soft kiss to his lips. "You've spent centuries controlling time. It is out of your hands now, my love, but you don't have to face it alone anymore."

Pulling her closer to him, Rumpelstiltskin wrapped his arms tightly around Belle's back and buried his face in her neck. "By the Gods, you're an amazing woman," he murmured into her hair.

Belle turned her head to force him to look at her. "I think there may be room for three in that boat that sails into our cave of emeralds…"


End file.
